Francois-Xavier Fabre

François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1837) was a French painter of historical subjects. Born in Montpellier, Fabre was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, and made his name by winning the Prix de Rome in 1787. During the French Revolution, he went to live in Florence, becoming a member of the Florentine Academy and a teacher of art. The friends he made in Italy included the dramatist, Vittorio Alfieri, whose widow, Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, Countess of Albany, he is said to have married. On Louise's death in 1824, he inherited her fortune, which he used to found an art school in his home town. On his own death, he bequeathed his own art collection to the town, forming the basis of the Musée Fabre. Fabre's works include The Dying Saint Sebastian (1789) and The Death of Narcissus (1814).